William McKinley

The American flag has not been planted on foreign soil to acquire more territory but for humanity's sake.

— William McKinley

Without competition we would be clinging to the clumsy antiquated processes of farming and manufacture and the methods of business of long ago, and the twentieth would be no further advanced than the eighteenth century.

— William McKinley

Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of earth.

— William McKinley

Expositions are the timekeepers of progress.

— William McKinley

Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not in conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war.

— William McKinley

When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them … And one night late it came to me this way…:

— William McKinley

That's all a man can hope for during his lifetime - to set an example - and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.

— William McKinley

We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is Manifest Destiny.

— William McKinley

That's all a man can hope for during his lifetime - to set an example - and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.

— William McKinley

Cuba ought to be free and independent, and the government should be turned over to the Cuban people.

— William McKinley

War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.

— William McKinley

Illiteracy must be banished from the land if we shall attain that high destiny as the foremost of the enlightened nations of the world which, under Providence, we ought to achieve.

— William McKinley

We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny.

— William McKinley

The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation.

— William McKinley